Promise
by CherryBlossoms38
Summary: A familiar promise is made at a certain river. Chihiro X Haku. Friendship


Author's Note:

Konichiwa reader! This is my first Spirited away fic so please don't flame. Only constructive criticism, please. I love the movie and, above all, wish there would be a sequel. Because I want to know if Haku really keeps his promise or not! Anyways, I hope you enjoy my story!

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A six year old Chihiro squealed when she saw the park come in view. Beyond the park lay a beautiful, glittering river. Her mother told her that the river's name was the Kohaku River. In remembering the name Chihiro pointed at the river through the windshield all the while exclaiming,

- "Look Mommy! The park!" Her mother chuckled, smiling a soft smile before replying.

- "Uh-huh. I can't wait to get there. It's such a beautiful day outside." Her father agreed with only a light grunt, too busy focusing on the road to really pay attention.

Chihiro was wearing a loose fitting, soft pink T-shirt with a pair a deep blue shorts. Along with her pink shoes and short chestnut brown hair, Chihiro was dressed perfectly for the gorgeous summers day. Once parked, Chihiro hopped out of the car, then bolting to the park entrance.

- "Chihiro!" Her mother yelled, trying to call the small child back. "Chi-"

- "Don't worry," Akio reassured her, putting an arm around her shoulder. "She'll be alright." Her mother sighed but did not continue to call the ecstatic child back. The two then started to make their way into the park, taking their time. (A/N: I'm using the park I live close to as a reference to how the park looks like. And no, the park doesn't have a river in it. It has a pond.)

Chihiro was already playing on the swings by the time her parents started to make their way towards the entrance. (A/N: they only parked a few feet away from the entrance.) Chihiro closed her brown eyes in pure bliss as she felt the wind glide through her short locks as she swung forwards and backwards. Putting her feet down into the cool sand, she eventually slowed herself to a stop.

Looking behind her, she saw that her parents were waiting patiently, both wearing happy smiles. Chihiro once again smiled and ran to her parents.

- "Mommy! Daddy! Did you see? I was on the swings! And I went really high!" Chihiro announced, her chocolate colored eyes staring up at them.

- "Yes, we saw! You did very well. Now what do you want to do?" Her father replied with the same enthusiasm. Chihiro put her hand to her chin while her eyebrows knitted together in thought. She was about to answer when a soft tune reached her ears. Her eyes brightened considerably, making them glint in the suns rays.

- "May I have ice-cream Mommy? Please? Please, plea-" Her father interrupted her begging with a,

- "Sure. Go ahead."

-" Yay! Thank you Daddy!" Chihiro squealed, hugging her father tightly. Giving the child a crinkled five dollar bill before Chihiro dashed off towards the waiting truck. A few minutes later, a cheery Chihiro was skipping back to her parents, ice-cream in hand. Deciding that resting in the shade would be a good idea; the family of three made their way to a spot where shade covered thick, green grass thanks to the sakura tree overhead. About twenty feet in front of the sakura tree was the famous Kohaku River. On this particular day, the river was swelling with harsh rapids from a few days before when it was pouring rain. Settling in the shade, the family relaxed quite comfortably. Yuuko giggled at her daughter's attempts to like the ice-cream on the cone and off her fingers at the same time.

Eventually, the ice-cream was finished and disposed of. The only child sighed in contentment as she layed on her back, letting the sun warm her body. She listened to her parents chat about work, bills, etc. Having no idea what they were talking about, the young child got bored of it pretty quickly and thought of other means of entertainment.

_'I could go back and play on the swings. Or I could go on the structure; I haven't done that. Nah, it looks to big for me. Maybe we should just go home since there's nothing left to do here. But it so pretty with the sakura tree and the the river... The river! That's what I could do! But I have to ask Mommy and Daddy first.'_

Getting up, Chihiro skipped over to her parents who noticed her immediately.

- "Are you having fun, Chihiro?" Akio asked his daughter. Chihiro nodded her head happily.

- "Can I go play near the river?" seeing the look on her mother's face, she hastily added, "I'll be careful, I promise!"

- "I don't know..." Yuuko started, but seeing the look on her daughter's face, she gave in. "Okay, but be careful. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

- "Thank you Mommy and Daddy!" Chihiro exclaimed, hugging both her parents before running towards the river.

- "Chihiro! Don't run you'll-" Yuuko was interrupter by her husband.

- "I'll watch her. You relax, okay?" Yuuko smiled softly as her husband's reassuring words.

- "Alright."

Chihiro plopped down on the bank of the river. The water sprinkled into her face from the rocks in the river. It cooler her down greatly. She then proceeded to take off her shoes by using one foot to dislodge the shoe on the opposite foot. This went without a hitch. She went to the next one, doing the same thing she did to the previous foot. More often than not, the shoe goes quite a distance from the force that is being used to take the shoe off. And because Chihiro was already close to the river to begin with; the coral shoe ended up going straight into the river's murky depths.

- "My shoe!" exclaimed the six year old. Going to the very edge of the river bank, Chihiro desperately reached for her shoe that was no longer on the surface. Hearing her father's call of, "Chihiro! Get back here! You're too close to the river!" was ignored.

_'I almost got it...'_ Suddenly, she felt the soggy bank collapse from underneath her and she plunged into the river's icy waters.

- " CHIHIRO!" Her father screamed, jumping up with Yuuko. Both ran to what was left of the river bank. Frantically, the two parents searched for their missing daughter. What they didn't know was that there was no way to find her through sight alone for, she was already heading towards the sandy bottom.

Chihiro struggled to get up to the surface. But being only six years old, she didn't know how to swim, only to stay afloat. Her lungs were burning, as if they were on fire. She was sinking but at the same time, she was being carried by the river's rapids.

_'Am I going to... die?'_

Finally, she could hold out no longer and Chihiro fell unconscious due to lack of air. Just as she was about to hit a large oncoming rock, a boy appeared and caught the girl gently.

This boy had dark green hair which could be easily mistaken for black. His eyes were a stunning emerald that went well with his pale skin. He seemed to be about twelve years old. But the strange thing about this boy as that he was he was not moving with the river's currents but floating in them. What even stranger was that he was not struggling for air or any of the like. It was as if he could breathe _underwater_.

He was wearing peculiar looking clothes as well. (A/N: Haku's wearing the same clothes he was wearing in the movie. I'm too lazy to describe them.)

Taking what seemed like a breath, the mysterious boy blew bubbles of all shapes and sizes onto the child. Immediately, Chihiro started to breathe again. Opening her hazel eyes, the girls stared at the boy in wonderment. Finally she whispered,

- "Am I...dead?" A gasp followed. "Huh? How can I talk underwater?" The girl said in amazement.

The boy chuckled, causing Chihiro to look up at him. "No, you're not dead, little one. And you can talk because I put a spell on you."

- "A spell?" Haku nodded.

- "Magic," He explained. The girl nodded her head. Soon afterwards a thought passed through her head that caused her to look up at the boy urgently, gripping his clothing.

- "What about my parents? Where are they?!" Chihiro asked worriedly. The boy smiled reassuringly at her.

- "Don't worry. There probably on the surface, trying to find you. They must be very scared." With this, the boy started to calmly swim to the shore of the river; where the rapids stopped. Stopping, the boy sighed and said, "This is far as I can go. Can you make it out by yourself?" Chihiro nodded.

- "Will we meet again sometime?"

- "Yes." The boy answered her without hesitation.

- "Promise?" Chihiro inquired again.

- "Promise."

The boy let go of her and she stood in the shallow water. The boy was about to leave when Chihiro gasped in realization.

- "Wait!" She yelled causing the boy to face her once more. "I never even got to know your name! Mines Chihiro!"

- "It's Kohaku." The boy replied one final time. She watched as before her eyes he turned into a stunningly beautiful white dragon with an aqua green mane.

_'He's a dragon,' _she thought to herself. Once again her lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen and Chihiro crawled to shore, taking in large gasps of air. She heard a "Look! There she is!!" from her mother. But Chihiro didn't care that she was wet or cold, she just focused on her saviors image in her memory.

She felt warmth and found that it was her parents tightly squeezing her, sobbing, her mother especially.

- "Ch-chihiro... I thought I lost you..." Her father whispered, trailing off.

- "I'm okay now, Daddy. The river saved me," Chihiro told them half-heartedly.

- "I'm just glad you're okay now." Mer mother replied. Chihiro saw the pink shoe a few feet away from her and smiled. She then looked up at the clear, blue sky and thought,

_'I can't wait to see you again... Kohaku.'_

Author's Note:

I love how this came out! And I worked so hard on it, too. I have a question for you guys. On my documents page, I can't edit my stories to make sure they don't get deleted anymore. I also can't edit my profile anymore, ether. All that happens is that the button that lets you save changes to my stories or profile just turns blue and back to silver. That's it. If anyone can help me or fix the problem completely will be able to request a one-shot abut anything as long as I know the series and it's characters. One example of something I can't do a one-shot on is Harry Potter.

So if you can help me it would be very appreciated!

I hope you enjoyed this story and don't forget to review!

CherryBlossoms38


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